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Boyd replies re VN poetry: 12 Russian Poets, Plus
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Dear Ken Tapscott and all,
Though Three Russian Poets will not be reprinted, the good news is that a
collection of VN's verse translations (other than Eugene Onegin and the
other poems incidentally translated therein), tentatively entitled Verses
and Versions and edited by me and Stanislav Shvabrin, will be published in
the first half of 2005.
The reason Three Russian Poets was not reprinted earlier is that the book
itself was already supplanted by 1947, when Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev was
published in England with 10 additional poems. VN meanwhile continued to
make new translations, and held on to older ones. In his late years he did
contemplate collecting his verse translations, but had strength in his last
years only to select his own original Russian poems (published as Stikhi,
1979). Vera Nabokov told me how much she wanted to publish a collection of
VN's verse translations, so in sorting out the archives for her and working
on the biography between 1979 and 1983, I kept track of all the verse
translations. But she had other work to do, I was busy writing the biography
itself and other projects in its wake, and Dmitri had enough work editing
and where necessary translating the selected letters, plays and stories,
checking translations, and managing rights and archives.
The new volume will be comprehensive rather than complete; it excludes
almost everything pre-1923 and includes almost everything after 1922. It
will include both original texts (in the case of Russian, transliterated and
stress-marked) and translations, and will include translations into English
from Russian and French, into Russian from English, French and German, and
into French from Russian. The Russian poets translated into English are
Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Pushkin (18 poems and mini-dramas), Baratynski,
Tyutchev, Lermontov, Fet, Nekrasov, Blok, Khodasevich, Mandelshtam, and
Okudzhava. The translations into Russian include Ronsard, Shakespeare,
Goethe, Byron, Tennyson, Musset, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud and
Supervielle.
The volume will also include Nabokov's essays and notes on translation, and
an introductory essay by me.
I hope that makes up for the wait.
Brian Boyd
----- End forwarded message -----
Though Three Russian Poets will not be reprinted, the good news is that a
collection of VN's verse translations (other than Eugene Onegin and the
other poems incidentally translated therein), tentatively entitled Verses
and Versions and edited by me and Stanislav Shvabrin, will be published in
the first half of 2005.
The reason Three Russian Poets was not reprinted earlier is that the book
itself was already supplanted by 1947, when Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev was
published in England with 10 additional poems. VN meanwhile continued to
make new translations, and held on to older ones. In his late years he did
contemplate collecting his verse translations, but had strength in his last
years only to select his own original Russian poems (published as Stikhi,
1979). Vera Nabokov told me how much she wanted to publish a collection of
VN's verse translations, so in sorting out the archives for her and working
on the biography between 1979 and 1983, I kept track of all the verse
translations. But she had other work to do, I was busy writing the biography
itself and other projects in its wake, and Dmitri had enough work editing
and where necessary translating the selected letters, plays and stories,
checking translations, and managing rights and archives.
The new volume will be comprehensive rather than complete; it excludes
almost everything pre-1923 and includes almost everything after 1922. It
will include both original texts (in the case of Russian, transliterated and
stress-marked) and translations, and will include translations into English
from Russian and French, into Russian from English, French and German, and
into French from Russian. The Russian poets translated into English are
Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Pushkin (18 poems and mini-dramas), Baratynski,
Tyutchev, Lermontov, Fet, Nekrasov, Blok, Khodasevich, Mandelshtam, and
Okudzhava. The translations into Russian include Ronsard, Shakespeare,
Goethe, Byron, Tennyson, Musset, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud and
Supervielle.
The volume will also include Nabokov's essays and notes on translation, and
an introductory essay by me.
I hope that makes up for the wait.
Brian Boyd
----- End forwarded message -----